We had such a fun week in Florida over spring break 2025! The girls brought their fellas, and Wes even got to stay for about half of the trip (baseball brought him back home early, sigh) I get almost as much joy in the planning of a trip as I do the actual trip, and this one was a good combination of going + action packed, and rest + relaxation!
Day 1 was a LONG drive to Orlando (yes, all in one 15 hour day) with the only “fun” activity being the traditional stop at Buc-ees. Wes and I did manage to listen to an entire audio book- Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (told through a two person perspective of main character and murder/podcast) and besides a few too many curse words, we really enjoyed the listen and it made the drive bearable!
Day 2 was Disney Springs, T-Rex Cafe (super happy that I scored 30% off costco giftcards to make this expensive meal a little more reasonable) and then we checked in for our one night at Pop Century to enjoy the resort (gotta get in that Disney bubble) the skyliner, pools, all of the cool architecture and gardens. The boys had never been to Disney, so it was fun seeing it for the first time through their eyes!
Day 3- Up at sunrise for rope-drop at Magic Kingdom. We splurged for the Lightening Lane passes and definitely felt like we got our money’s worth, with it being spring break. We rode basically every ride (Winnie the pooh was down and a few we always skip – Speedway- talking about you!) and probably never waited longer than 10 minutes. We ate our favorites (dole whip, fruit and Nutella waffles, and Gaston’s) and ran into a bunch of my former students performing with the Atkins band and choir, which was so neat! We walked 25K steps in all, but LOVED every minute!
Day 4- We slept in and spent the morning getting much needed rest in our Hyatt. With the exception of our night at Disney, we spent every night at a Hyatt using saved up Chase credit card points! We did eat at Hard Rock and did the loop at the City Walk that evening.
Day 5- we kayaked on Rainbow Springs in Dunnellon, Florida, on our way from Orlando to Panama City Beach. Rainbow Springs one of several crystal clear freshwater streams that are perfect temperature for swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking! This has been on my bucket list for awhile, and we will definitely be doing this again next time we come through! The water is crazy clear, and we saw otters, turtles, and birds galore. I really wanted to do the clear kayaks, but the cost was about 2x so we settled for the regular and honestly, it was just fine!
Day 6-7 – We rested up in Panama City Beach. Our Hyatt here was directly on the beach and included two beach chairs and an umbrella every day, which was such an insane deal. Typically, this hotel has a resort fee, but when paying with points, resort fees and parking fees are waived. I couldn’t believe it was free (with our points!!) The water was a little too cold (for me- other people were swimming) but it was perfect weather and we were able to spend hours on the beach getting our vitamin d and a little color on our pasty winter skin!
6 of our 7 night were spent in Hyatt’s, and we were able to do this thanks to our Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Wes and I both signed up for our own card, last fall, and used the cards for day-to-day expenses as well as our Christmas shopping. The bonus points for each card were transferrable to Hyatt and covered our lodging 6 of our 7 days – including parking, the free breakfasts, and the chairs/umbrella’s at PCB! In Orlando, we did 2 rooms each night, since Wes was with us, but in PCB, we did just use the one room for the 5 of us. PCB Hyatt had 2 queens, plus a couch that made into a bed, so not a huge issue for those three nights! The card does have a $99 annual fee, but you can always cancel after one year- so I guess in reality, our 6 nights were $200 (if you considered the annual fee) but still felt like it was a deal! If you have any interest in learning about using credit cards to earn hotels and flights, I post more about how we utilize credit cards to cover big parts of our travel HERE!
Such a fun spring break trip. We are a Disney family (fell in love when the girls were little!) and I worried that it would bother us to go and just visit one park, but we went so hard the day we were there, it really wasn’t too sad! And we enjoyed the beach and kayaking so much– I wouldn’t hesitate to do this exact trip again. If we had done Disney all week, especially with the Spring Break crowds, I think we would have come home absolutely exhausted, and visiting early in the week, I think, kept us from the really insane crowds. I will say that this is the first time we have visited Disney that wasn’t the dead of summer, and wow- was it nice to not be hot and sweaty the whole day!!!
Hope you had a great spring break!
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